Month: August 2009

Not sure if it is all I have to do today floating in my head. Or maybe the tiny beginning of a sore throat I am trying to ignore. Or the excitement of putting in the flooring in my studio today. I think that last one is it the most. Last night about 8:30pm The Future Hubbie asked if he wanted me to set up the saw we had bought earlier at Home Depot as I was close to finally needing to cut my first plank of flooring I am installing in my new studio. (Formally known as the Formal Living Room.) As soon as he set it up we realized the error of our ways in wanting to save a few bucks. We bought the saw horses, a good scrap of wood for a surface, and an electric hand saw. Dude. Those suckers are HEAVY. And you have like NO control with a straight line. So back we went at 9pm to return it and get the chop saw with the laser to guide a straight line. Then of course we realized we were hungry. Then we realized it was 10pm and we were down to fast food as our only options. So a few burritos later we were back home at 10:30pm with the saw the new saw and a yummy if not so healthy dinner. I decided to take pity on TFH and the dogs (not to mention the new neighbors I have not met yet) and not saw deep into the night. So I relaxed, watched a bit of tv while we munched on Taco Bell and then we hit the hay at midnight. Except I woke up about 3:30am. And finally at 4am I decided to just go ahead and begin my day. The last time this happened I lay in bed, had a GREAT idea for a childrens book, forced myself back to bed and promptly forgot it in the morning. Until I was at a work meeting later that day and someone metioned the name RALPH and I said OUT LOUD, “Oh my GOSH! I totally had THE BEST idea for a childrens book about a dog named Ralph last night! But hmmm, now I can’t think of the details. But there was a mouse in it and DUDE! is Ralph the cutest dog EVER!” And ummm, yeah, my coworkers kind of just stared at me. And so I continued with, “Right, ok, um, about the new magazine layout…You were saying?” Seriously, I should be working at home, right? (For the record I LOVE my job, I LOVE my coworkers and I would totally never, ever want to quit if it wasn’t for the absolute calling I have to work on my art full time. There is no way to fight it, so I will work with it. Remember? One year. That’s right.

Ok, where was I? Coffee. Right. It just finished brewing. Since you are all most likely sleeping right now like normal people, you will not mind if I pause for some java, right? I knew you people were so coolio like that. Be back in a jiff. Gif? Jif? Something you never write, just say and then you don’t know how to spell, ya know? Yeah, um, coffee. Be right back.

Ok, back. And I just realized we did not replace the gallon of milk we found yesterday morning on the counter when we woke up. The NEW gallon I had just bought. And TFH declared loudly “WHO LEFT OUT THE MILK!?” Now, ordinarily, this FOR SURE has absent-minded artist written ALL OVER it. And if not me, it for SURE has absent-minded teenage boy all over it. But the kids were at their dad’s house and I had the ice cream right out of the box standing in the kitchen while TFH had milk and cookies at midnight the night before. (How’s that diet going, Michelle? Oh it’s GREAT! I find that Taco Bell at 10pm and ice cream at midnight are REALLY the way to go! ….Ahem….) So anyhoo. The Future Hubbie decided it was fine and put it back in the fridge. I of course said, “EWWWW! We need to remember to buy more milk today so I can have it for my coffee tomorrow.” So of course with buying all the flooring and saws and whatnot we forgot the milk. Until right now at 4:20am when I NEED coffee. So suddenly left out milk is not so “EWW” as much as it is “will it kill me?” If I die later, it is totally NOT acute propofol intoxication, k? Check the milk. Just sayin’.

So, I can’t cut flooring at 4:30am, but I can update my blog and write and html email that I am sending out to my mailing list sometime today. So if you are reading this and I don’t have your email, get to it! You can sign up on the home page of my site. Ok, I have some progress pics for you of the studio.And by exciting I mean, PICTURES of FLOORS. Are you trembling in anticipation? Of course you are! But dude, you just WAIT until tonite!!! Make sure you check back. Cause it will be most AWESOME. Or I will be dead from drinking left out milk in my coffee. Either way? EXCITING.

Here is me after ripping up all the foam and about to get every teeny tiny staple out of the wood subfloor. And dude, could I look like I have BIGGER circles under my eyes? Imagine how I am gonna look tonite after waking up at 3:30am. PRETTY. The Future Hubbie is so VERY lucky to have snagged such a looker.

And here you have the NEW foam flooring that goes under the wood planks. We went with the cheaper stuff because the only thing under the floor is the basement and this will not be a room the dogs wil be click-clacking their giant dog paws on. Do you hear me ginormous monster dogs!!!??? You and your drooly, hairy selves who get all your drooly drool and hairy hair everywhere else and we still love you anyways and don’t send you to the ‘farm’ are NOT allowed in mom’s studio!!! (let’s all remember I said that when Lucy looks so cute on a rug at my feet and I let said drooly, hairy beasties in my cute hairless, drooless studio, ok? Sucker? Thy name is Michelle.

So yeah, later today I should have pics of my beautimous floor. For reals. As long as I don’t cut a finger off or anything. And there are family members that are gonna be so MAD I even just wrote that. Cause not ONE person would be surprised if I call later from the hospital saying, “No, it’s ok. TFH got it on ice fast. They say they can totally reattach it. No, not too much blood lost and NONE of it got on the new wood, so score! But wow, yeah, you look away for ONE second with those chop saws…” Nope, not one person in my family would be surprised. Ok, anyone who KNOWS me would not be surprised. Maybe because of this story ormaybe this one. But, hey, I have an idea! How ’bout no severed fingers on this project!? Yeah, sounds good to me too.

Next up to tell you about happened last week was that we went out for TFH’s birthday. He is finally as old as me and while he will NEVER let me forget for one second that I am 8 months older, for now? We are EVEN. So anyway, on the way home we saw a Hobby Lobby. And hey, did you all know I am an egomaniac? Yeah, this blog might clue you in. Or perhaps my Facebook that I update ALL the time because who would NOT want to know what I am up to every second of the day? No one! That’s who! And hello, have we met? You read my blog? Has anyone told you what fine taste you have? And lookit you! You, my dear, are GORGEOUS! So yeah, if you read me you are obviously smart and beautiful.

So there we are in Hobby Lobby so that I can see my coloring books on the shelf and maybe see if my painting book from two years ago is there too because I am totally an egomaniac. And low and behold! Happy day! I saw my first book – which is just now getting on shelves after 2 years AND are you ready for this? Hold onto your hats people cause color-me-surprised if my coloring books were not SOLD OUT! Yep, right next to Spider-Man and Dinosaurs, little ol’ me was sold out!! And see? Proof:

And here is me with my first book:

Ok, so now I will go work on the html email to mail you all that is all about me and the Decatur Book Festival. I will post my next entry about that and where you can find me. Cause hello? Who would not want to meet me?! No one! That’s who! At least not the intelligent, gorgeous people that have wonderful taste, right? Right.

I would love to tell you the story of how I almost died from an abscessed tooth last week. But I have told the story so much, I am tired of it. And think I am not quite recovered from it and the three days of pain so horrendous that I could not even sleep. And I almost died. Ok, maybe I am exaggerating a little. JUST A BIT. Not much, because I really think my body was as close to giving in from pain as it ever has been. But maybe the morphine, 2 hydrocodone, 6 advil and two shots of vodka may have almost killed me too. But when all those things combined STILL didn’t stop the pain? Well, you can imagine that I wanted to die. Just to stop the crazy pain. But anyway, to sum up. Had an emergency root canal where they had to drill into my $1000 tooth that is STILL not paid for and I didn’t care. At all. Cause I almost took pliers and ripped it out myself to stop the pain. But thankfully my dentist stopped that from happening. And I sent him flowers. For real. I heart him. A lot.

So moving on to today. I went running. But my final root canal does not happen for 2 more weeks. And when I run it hurts. HURTS. Pain throbs in my tooth still. So I did not run much. Only about 5 minutes. Shhhh. Don’t tell. It still counts. Sort of.

So today I sent two oversized posters of two of my book covers and a banner to print for the book festival. And I need to do an entry on the Decatur Book Festivalso y’all can come see me and by my coloring books. But my tooth hurts so I am gonna do that tomorrow.

In studio news, we are buying the flooring for my new studio soon. And I CANNOT wait. And when I quit and am working fulltime in my studio? I am buying a blue lovebird to be my office mate. And the other night when I was up late and when TFH asked me what I was working so hard on and looked over my shoulder he sighed. Cause the answer was “Researching if lovebirds come in blue. And they totally do. And I will get one and I will love it. And did you know it is a common misconception that you have to buy lovebirds in pairs? It totally is. You don’t have to. You just have to spend lots of time with them cause they will bond with you and need you. And I can’t wait to get my blue lovebird. Cause it will be my bluebird of happiness and will mean that I am happy and working in my studio on my art and I have achieved one more goal I set for myself.” Then he sighed. But he smiled too. And maybe shook his head in that ‘how did I find such a crazy girl’ way. I love when he smiles like that I and I know that he loves me and all my crazy exactly like I am. Me and my bluebird of happiness. 🙂

After the most painful week of my life due to an abscessed tooth, I am feeling all back to normal and ready to get to work on my studio! The Future Hubbie (TFH) and I decided that we would put off the new bedroom sets so that I could get the studio set up. I need to paint, put in a new wood floor, and hang french doors on two doorways. After some compromise, TFH has agreed to let me put in the floors myself! I am very excited about this as I LOVE learing new things and doing hard work. Plus, how much will I LOVE it when it is all done and I know I did it myself?! I want to also do it all on a tight budget, so hence the doing it all myself. I have found a great deal on flooring at a liquidators place and are buying the flooring this week. Today I am testing paint colors and ripping up the carpet and most likely pulling nails out of the floor for the rest of the day. I will be taking pics of my progress as I go. If I am quitting my job in a year, I need to have an awesome place to work, right? RIGHT.

Meanwhile, I am also working on getting some signage done for The Decatur Book Festival! So excited about that too! I will be picking up a shipment of my coloring books from my publishers, Idea Builders, this week to sell there. I am thinking I will have a contest during the weekend to give away two paintings too. Have to figure that out. But I am thinking of having something cute for the kids to do and put in a fishbowl for a drawing.

Finally, will be going for a 4 mile run later with TFH to work on the 15 lbs to lose. Thanks to all the antibiotics and advil I have for some reason GAINED 3 lbs during a week of barely eating and excrutiating pain. How fair is THAT?!?! Not at all. Bah.

Ok, time to get off and go get some work done! Have a wonderous Sunday everyone! 🙂

So last night i woke up with excruciating pain. That i am currently in and waiting in the doctor’s office to be seen. My best guess is ghat i got shot in the face, punched in the face, stabbed in the face or perhaps i have a nasty sinus infection. I can go 4 hours without pain if i take advil. Been this way for 2 days now and i figure i should figure it out before i blow out my liver w advil. (excusemy typjng-on my iphone) So, it is 3:30am and i think what have i done today towards my goals?

Well i went running. That helps with the lose 15 lbs goal. Nothing towards quitting my job goal tho. Bad Michelle!! So i think… I wonder if the Decatur Book Festival has any openings? This is of course preposterous as it is 2 weeks away. But i pull the covers over my head so as not to wake The Man and begin looking on my iphone. It was all very fifth grade secretly reading Judy Blume at night of me! I emailed a contact and casually asked if they had any spots at this late hour.

I went to bed after that, the advil finally kicking in and easing the pain inmy mouth/nose/head.

Well color me surprised if they didnt write me back this morning saying they just had a cancellation in the childrens section and they knew of my art and would LOVE to offer the spot to me!!!

How awesome is that?!? Very!! Ok the pain is worse and the typing is hard on my little phone. Will update u on details later!

Oh my goodness. So much has happened. Just life stuff, but SO MUCH. I am right now sitting in a brand new living room typing this. We moved. Into a very pretty house. That does not feel at all like mine. It is 13 miles away from where I have lived for 9 years. And I loved, LOVED where I lived for those 9 years. But I am here now. And change is good. Right? Right! (I am trying, I SWEAR!) Ok, so I pouted a bit last week. Ok, I was MOST DREADFUL last week to poor fiancé (still like BBE better, still working on acronym) all week. I am , of course, a most horrible person. I mean, really. Who COMPLAINS when they are given a beautiful new house to live in, in a beautiful neighborhood? Who DOES that? Bratty ME, that’s who. But I am working through it. I am.

And on Friday I came up with the BRILLIANT idea to use the formal living room as a new studio for me!! IS that not a WONDERFUL idea!? Thank you, I thought so too. It is light and bright and by golly, my paintings are already all in there, so why not, says I? We have no formal living room furniture and except for holidays and parties who ever actually goes in those things? And The Man totally agrees! (In all fairness I think he just agreed to get me to stop being mean and complain-y but still, he agreed and NO BACKSIES Mr. Man!) Yes, it will be a studio. And I will paint it pink and put french doors on it and I will LOVE it. And I will work in there. And in August next year I will quit my full time job to work from my pretty pink office (that will feel just like my lovely other one that I miss so much). So there you go. Did you miss that declaration in the ponderings of my pink office? I just said I AM QUITTING MY FULL TIME DESIGN JOB IN ONE YEAR. That is me yelling to the universe that I will be making at least my income (shooting for MORE) by this month next year. So there. I said it. And it WILL happen! And I dare to think that will mean much less facebooking (oh, Facebook, I adore you so, I love the voyeuristic nature that you provide, but dear one, you are a TIME SUCK) and however am I to quit my job if I keep looking with baited breath to see what each and every one of my friends is doing to see if it is more interesting that what I am doing? So I am cutting back on you and probably tv unless I am working in front of it, but if I am just watching and not DOING it MUST GO too. Must. Because I have one year.

And while I love my design job and the people there it is NOT my future. It is NOT what I am supposed to be doing. And it is time to make my life what I want it to be again. How easy it is to just go to work 8 hours a day, do what they say and get that lovely paycheck every month? It is SO easy. And it is SO lovely. And it is SO fun wih my coworkers. But it is SO NOT what I should be doing anymore. Well, it is for the next year while I jump off and into the water once again. I have had my rest on the lovely big boat called stability for over 2 years now. And I have lounged and hung out and enjoyed you, wonderful and awesome security, I have, but it is time to leave soon. So today I jump in and will begin swimming and treading and getting my sketchbooks back out to have with me at all time. (A tell-tale sign that this is needed is that I have had the most glorious sketchbook in my purse that I had not even taken out of the wrapper yet!! I know, you may insert a gasp here!! Last night I put all my sketch books up on a shelf and thought how sad that I have not added anymore in the last year of my life. I mean, I ALWAYS have a sketchbook with me. I am constantly buying them and doodling and having ideas and writing intentions and notes and ideas. Well, with no sketchbook it is no wonder I am not any closer to my goals in this last year is it? Yes, I know what I need to do. I may be Facebooking much less, but I will be blogging much more. Because this is where I will tell myself what i will be doing. And sharing it. And showing myself that a year of solid intention will make why dreams and goals happen!

And you know what a pouty, complaining bratty girl does on her way home from her brand new commute that she never used to have, does? She passes the Hobby Lobby and pulls over and goes in and buys her book and buys a magazine all about inspiring artists and their workspaces called Where Woman Create because the women who inspired her to begin this craziness in the first place is on the cover and she knows that her next year of intention will work. (and she will be IN that magazine one day she decides – geez, could I be more HUMBLE?? heh.) It is a sign. And as she is checking out and buying her book, said brattty girl realizes that ok, maybe she has done SOME work in the last two years cause as she recalls those coloring books took a whole HECK of a lot of work!! And she feels a little bit better and maybe she is not the GIGANTIC loser she feels like she is.

So there you have it. To recap:
1. Bratty Girl
2. Inspiring people
3. Cutting down on FACEbook
4. More SKETCHbook
5. Quitting job in ONE YEAR
6. Losing 15 lbs (What, did I not mention that part? Well, let’s just say that until I finally lost this pesky last 15 lbs from my last pregnancy ELEVEN years ago, it is always to be included in the recap.)